Bill Cosby

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I wasn't aware he's been charged with anything.

The only thing I'm surprised at so far is that Gloria Allred hasn't appeared with any of the "victims" yet.
 
What doesn't make sense to me is that the most famous person in America (in the 1980s) and one of the greatest comics ever would have to resort to date rape. I would think there would be a line of woman willing to sleep with him without requiring pharmaceutical assistance.

Either way. Power does funny things to a man.
 
You give people power and put them in a position of high reward/low risk of getting caught or punished, and most would act in devious ways.
 
Late to the game here, but sure sounds like he is guilty. As mentioned, way too much smoke for there not to be some truth. The number of accusers is now up in the mid 20's? Doesn't look promising for Bill.
 
Guilty of what exactly? What's he even been charged with? I wasn't aware that he's yet had his day in court. Are you relying on anything that nutty freak Janice Dickinson has said?

We have GOT to stop these media witch hunts, along with trials and convictions in the court of the public opinion, BULLSH*T in this country! It has gotten totally out of hand. People deserve cooler heads and due process.

Just look at the UVA false rape case as a prime example. The whole truth will eventually come out. Or it won't. Be patient. And ultimately who cares! How does it affect your life? That's all that I'm really worried about. Call me selfish.
 
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BuzzPhreed said:
Guilty of what exactly? What's he even been charged with? I wasn't aware that he's yet had his day in court. Are you relying on anything that nutty freak Janice Dickinson has said?

We have GOT to stop these media witch hunts, along with trials and convictions in the court of the public opinion, BULLSH*T in this country! It has gotten totally out of hand. People deserve cooler heads and due process.

Just look at the UVA false rape case as a prime example. The whole truth will eventually come out. Or it won't. Be patient. And ultimately who cares! How does it affect your life? That's all that I'm really worried about. Call me selfish.
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It is not what he is charged with, it is what he is accused of. The accusation is drugging and raping women. The UVA false rape case was one woman. This scenario involves multiple accusations (numbering over 20 women) that are eerily similar. I normally don't follow the TMZ type of news, but this one hits home a bit more with Cosby being such a fatherly figure icon over the years. It is sad to think that he may have done any of the things he is accused of.
 
There's a reason why we have a statute of limitations for criminal charges, and something analagous (prescription?) for civil suits. This circus is silly.

I don't know if Cosby is a rapist or not, but I don't see how he could possibly defend himself, or how any of his accusers could possibly prove anything. What a prosecutor believes and what can be proved are often different. I believe he probably did what he being accused of ... there are a lot of women coming out of the woodwork now, and most of them likely won't get anything except media attention. It's too much for me to just dismiss as gold digging.

The whole thing is sad. I think Cosby was a hugely positive influence for black-white race relations. A popular TV show showing a successful, educated, professional black man gave a lot of black kids a good non-athlete non-musician non-criminal role model ... he did some good in life, even if he does turn out to be the POS he appears to be now.
 
pgg said:
I don't know if Cosby is a rapist or not, but I don't see how he could possibly defend himself, or how any of his accusers could possibly prove anything.
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Innocent until proven guilty.

Why didn't this come out when it allegedly happened?
 
urge said:
Innocent until proven guilty.

Why didn't this come out when it allegedly happened?
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I have not done a lot of reading on the issue yet, but apparently, it did come out but was silenced. Supposedly, some settlements occurred and others were hushed by people who told the accusers it was a no win situation for them because of his stature.
 
urge said:
Innocent until proven guilty.
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Yes. Which is why he won't be convicted of anything, unless he confesses.

urge said:
Why didn't this come out when it allegedly happened?
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Apparently some did try, and got nowhere.

As for the other accusers. There are a lot of reasons women don't report rape. Some would rather just try to get on with their lives, rather than relive it all, and that's OK, it's their call. But if they decide to wait and report it much later, then they're stuck with the statute of limitations (criminal) and prescription (civil), and that's OK too.

I'm not going to be the least bit critical of any of the accusers' decision not to come forward sooner, any more than I'm going to advocate that Cosby be punished in any way. (Not that the system, or Cosby, or the accusers care what I think.)
 
Likely, Cosby's only punishment will be the tarnished reputation and the fact that sponsors will (have) abandon him from now on.
Maybe, he might write a book called, "I didn't do it, but if I was going to, here is how I would do it."
 
Let's face facts: this is tantamount to another black-on-black (dare I say) lynching, initiated by Hannibal Buress, because he didn't like what Bill Cosby has had to say over the years about African-American culture. He called out his hypocrisy. Now what we have is a lot of ex post facto dogpiling. Look at some of these accusers. Really? There's absolutely no way now to separate the wheat from the chaff and figure out who's telling the truth and who's simply grabbing limelight.

So, I don't know what the facts are. I don't care. Some of these accusations are older than I am. Again, it just underscores this new era we live where "doxxing" people and trying to crucify them in the court of public opinion is acceptable... including the agenda-laden UVA case, which this same "journalist" did in 2011 and got away with it. (Google Erdely, "Billy Doe", and the Catholic church.)

My sense is that we're soon entering a new era of journalistic accountability. At least I can only hope. TMZ... f*ck... if that's the new "journalistic" standard, I'd rather have the Politburo and Pravda.
 
Rape (or any kind of abuse) is not something people love to advertise. Unless there are high chances for a positive outcome, people will just try to move on and forget.

In this case, the chances increased exponentially as more and more women admitted to having been abused by him. True or false, they have nothing to gain at this point, which makes them much more credible. He might not be guilty in the eyes of the law, but he's been already executed in the court of public opinion. The stations can schedule his shows all they want, people have stopped watching them.

And his entire approach to the problem, for decades, has been almost incriminating. "This is something we don't talk about." :wtf:
 
The assumption is that he sexually assaulted these women. That his modus operandi was to drug and subsequently abuse women. None of us was there. There is, at this point, exactly zero physical evidence to either corroborate or refute this claim. Just because several people come out and now, in some cases decades later, say "this happened to me too" doesn't make it true.

I'm not defending the guy. Like I said, this has zero impact on my life. What I worry about, though, is that any manner of people can come out of the woodwork and accuse you of something far down the line... and it can have real repercussions on your life.

What if, for example, people started saying that you are difficult to work with? Maybe you raised your voice? Maybe this happened years ago and the recollection that person has now is that you threatened them in the workplace? Of course, this was never documented at the time for whatever reason. But now they are documenting it. And suddenly more people, maybe some who simply didn't like you and/or stand to gain some notoriety or personal gain for bandwagoning say you did the same thing to them? And you're fired for it, assuming that you work in an at-will state, you will have no recourse.

This is basically what happened to someone I know. Eerily similar. And that's what I worry about. When this kind of innuendo and ex post facto witch-hunting becomes acceptable and the standard of how we're now going to judge people. And, that does have the potential to affect how you and I operate, and it doesn't necessarily have to be based on truth -- just one (or several) people's account of what they think happened.
 
BuzzPhreed said:
What if, for example, people started saying that you are difficult to work with? Maybe you raised your voice? Maybe this happened years ago and the recollection that person has now is that you threatened them in the workplace? Of course, this was never documented at the time for whatever reason. But now they are documenting it. And suddenly more people, maybe some who simply didn't like you and/or stand to gain some notoriety or personal gain for bandwagoning say you did the same thing to them? And you're fired for it, assuming that you work in an at-will state, you will have no recourse.

This is basically what happened to someone I know. Eerily similar. And that's what I worry about. When this kind of innuendo and ex post facto witch-hunting becomes acceptable and the standard of how we're now going to judge people. And, that does have the potential to affect how you and I operate, and it doesn't necessarily have to be based on truth -- just one (or several) people's account of what they think happened.
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This is exactly what happens all the time to good doctors. Mostly just on this side of the pond. That's why I tell medical students that no intelligent person would go into a career than can get destroyed just based on some worthless accusations.

Honestly, had I known all the ways nurses can f*ck with your career in America, I would have stayed abroad.

In this case, though, Cosby could accuse them of slander. Why doesn't he?
 
FFP said:
This is exactly what happens all the time to good doctors.
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I got dogpiled in residency. I pissed-off one popular nurse one time and she managed to get the entire unit turned against me. Fortunately I had a good PD who got my back and knew the real story. But, it can happen. If I so much as burped on that unit, I was handed a written report by someone. (Seriously, you have that much time on your hands? That is piss-poor nursing management and nothing more and people knew it. Still made my life hell for that month. But my standing up to it put a stop to what had occurred to other terrified residents who rotated on that unit before, so you're welcome everyone-who-followed-me.)

FFP said:
In this case, though, Cosby could accuse them of slander. Why doesn't he?
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He just wants it to go away. Although, he is taking on this purported 15-year-old that accused him in 1974. He filed a slander lawsuit.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/bill-cosby-fires-back-sexual-abuse-lawsuit/story?id=27369340
 
BuzzPhreed said:
I got dogpiled in residency. I pissed-off one popular nurse one time and she managed to get the entire unit turned against me. Fortunately I had a good PD who got my back and knew the real story. But, it can happen. If I so much as burped on that unit, I was handed a written report by someone. (Seriously, you have that much time on your hands? That is piss-poor nursing management and nothing more and people knew it. Still made my life hell for that month. But my standing up to it put a stop to what had occurred to other terrified residents who rotated on that unit before, so you're welcome everyone-who-followed-me.)
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I had a similar experience, except that my PD did not stand up for me. Neither did the vicechair, who was the head of that division. It was I said, she said (I never actually did anything wrong), except that she was backed up by other nurses who had not been present (but lied about it). I asked to be allowed to face my accusers. I was basically told that it's better if I just let it go, keep my head down blah-blah.

Two years later, the same **** happened to one of the best and nicest people from that generation. There is no way in hell s/he would have done what they said. The nurses are still there, still abusing residents, unpunished.

In Europe, I got more respect from nurses as a resident than I get here as an attending. It's just a malignant mob culture, left out of control.
 
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FFP said:
I had a similar experience, except that my PD did not stand up for me. Neither did the vicechair, who was the head of that division. It was I said, she said (I never actually did anything wrong), except that she was backed up by other nurses who had not been present (but lied about it). I asked to be allowed to face my accusers. I was basically told that it's better if I just let it go, keep my head down blah-blah.

Two years later, the same **** happened to one of the best and nicest people from that generation. There is no way in hell s/he would have done what they said. The nurses are still there, still abusing residents, unpunished.

In Europe, I got more respect from nurses as a resident than I get here as an attending. It's just a malignant mob culture, left out of control.
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Why not return to Europe? I think about leaving this country frequently because of the abuse of the medical profession, race relations and the gun culture.
 
chocomorsel said:
Why not return to Europe? I think about leaving this country frequently because of the abuse of the medical profession, race relations and the gun culture.
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Europe is far from perfect either. Actually you would probably feel way more discriminated against there. They don't like anybody who's different, racially, religiously, sexually or ethnically, and they tend to not be as polite about it as the Americans. In Europe, you would be a foreigner for life (not that the federal government doesn't call me a permanent resident "alien", or the border control doesn't ask me whether I had been arrested abroad, instead of welcoming me home).

The US is a big country, full of contrasts, so almost everybody can find a place to be happy in. Just keep looking.
 
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chocomorsel said:
Why not return to Europe? I think about leaving this country frequently because of the abuse of the medical profession, race relations and the gun culture.
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You want to go to Europe for better race relations?
 
Back to the topic at hand, you have to think that somewhere out there, Cosby's roofie dealer has to be considering coming forward to crucify him for a pile of cash.
 
I like pgg's summary.
Still, it's very hard for me to believe such a media firestorm is erupting concerning ACCUSATIONS that happened
TWENTY YEARS AGO.
THIRTY YEARS AGO.
Bill Cosby is an Icon in America.
Bill Cosby has also been very outspoken about (lack of) accountability of his race.
Considering our current, very strained racial environment,
I smell

CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.
 
jwk said:
I wasn't aware he's been charged with anything.

The only thing I'm surprised at so far is that Gloria Allred hasn't appeared with any of the "victims" yet.
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Of course I spoke too soon!
 
I know someone who knows someone who has been claiming for YEARS (well before this "character assassination"), that Cosby sexually assaulted her. She was an intern on his show and he just walked up to her and a friend and exposed himself. When neither of them reacted, he pulled up his pants and walked away as if nothing happened.
She didnt expect any repercussions if she said anything, so just just went on talking about it to family and friends and has been doin so for the past 20+ years.
The dude deserves worse than he's getting. He represents a fond childhood memory, so we all have the knee-jerk reaction to defend him. But he is a sick person.
 
Also, I find it appalling to attempt to absolve misdoings by making something racial. Black people are not infallible, even in this "very strained racial environment".
 
ArMed said:
I know someone who knows someone who has been claiming for YEARS (well before this "character assassination"), that Cosby sexually assaulted her. She was an intern on his show and he just walked up to her and a friend and exposed himself. When neither of them reacted, he pulled up his pants and walked away as if nothing happened.
She didnt expect any repercussions if she said anything, so just just went on talking about it to family and friends and has been doin so for the past 20+ years.
The dude deserves worse than he's getting. He represents a fond childhood memory, so we all have the knee-jerk reaction to defend him. But he is a sick person.
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Seriously? You know someone who knows someone?
 
pgg said:
You want to go to Europe for better race relations?
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Haha. Yeah, that's rich. You want to see true classism in action? Go to Europe. If you have the "wrong" last name your fate is sealed at birth. Obama would've been washing dishes somewhere right now if he'd been born, raised, and lived in Europe.
 
BuzzPhreed said:
Haha. Yeah, that's rich. You want to see true classism in action? Go to Europe. If you have the "wrong" last name your fate is sealed at birth. Obama would've been washing dishes somewhere right now if he'd been born, raised, and lived in Europe.
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There are other countries besides the U.S. And Europe which embrace western values to which if the earlier poster wanted to leave America. At least three come to mind. One is cold, one is quite hot and the third is rainy with lots of sheep. English is spoken in all three.
 
chocomorsel said:
Did not say that. Said I sometimes wanted to leave the country.
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Sorry, I thought you meant Europe.

As someone else obliquely mentioned, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are nice. I don't want to turn this into an expatriation thread though. 🙂
 
Would love to live in Canada because it would keep me close to family in the US and Canadians are more relaxed, and the gun crimes are not nearly as bad as they are here in the U.S. Only problem is the cold. Can't do it. Just relocated to the West from the NE due to the cold and gloom. Thought of Australia before, one of my oldest friends an NP moved there two years ago and loves it.
 
pgg said:
Sorry, I thought you meant Europe.

As someone else obliquely mentioned, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are nice. I don't want to turn this into an expatriation thread though. 🙂
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NZ is lovely. I lived there once. Would consider it again when my parents pass away.
 
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